Physical retail will live forever, says Unibail-Rodamo CEO

Online retail will peak, and brick-and-mortar stores will be with us forever, Unibail-Rodamco Christophe Cuvillier said on a conference call covered by Reuters. Unibail announced this week it is paying nearly $16 billion for Westfield.

The “internet will grow, but the internet cannot do everything. It’s very difficult to be profitable on the internet, particularly pure-play online retailers,” he said, citing the stores being opened by Amazon, Apple, Nespresso and Tesla. “Retailers need physical presence.”